MLS 2017: I'm gonna git you, soccer

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Ray Parlour > MLS 2017: I'm gonna git you, soccer

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Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Your Boy Fancy posted:

I'm not saying shoot the kid, I'm saying I want him to gently caress off

He's eleven years old.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2017 01:16

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 13:42

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Your Boy Fancy posted:

I want the eleven year old boy to gently caress off, yes.

For the crime of "He Likes Playing Soccer and His Parents Signed Him Up For The Team"?

# ¿ Sep 23, 2017 01:43

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Bio-Hazard posted:

If that's to be believed, Barron Trump plays for DC United's Academy team.

That's the US Soccer Development Academy, the top level of youth soccer in the US.

It's like a U-11 or U-12 team. Those are generally pay-to-play, no tryouts involved.

Of course, not that some adults aren't trying to ruin youth sports even more. I recently saw a Facebook posting in SE Minnesota advertising U-10 traveling baseball with a tryout schedule. We're now making nine-year-old kids audition for teams.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2017 15:40

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Gigi Galli posted:

What do you guys think will happen now that the us won't be in the World Cup? There must be a correlation between mls attendance and profits and the USA being in the tournament right? I feel like more people give a poo poo in World Cup years, or immediately after.

The league won't get the usual World Cup Year increase in attention. The other stuff probably won't be affected too much, but who knows since the US hasn't missed a World Cup since the league was created.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 04:25

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Jack2142 posted:

I guess for lack of better word MLS has sort of indirectly made the US worse, it gave us a way deeper pool of "okay" players, but it acts as a safety blanket so fewer guys make the leap to Europe to try to be true difference makers ala Dempsey or some of those older guys from the 2000's-2010's.

Half of the 2002 team that made the Quarterfinals was playing in the 10-team MLS at the time, including a number of regulars. There were also a number of others who were playing in Europe, but had started their pro careers in the league.

The problem is more than just MLS talent level - it's kind of lazy to blame that. It's the labrynthine league structure, the hilarious clusterfuck that is lower-league soccer in the US, the 27 different competing academy structures, the fact that the USSF allows MLS teams to claim dibs on academy players who live 500 miles away, the complete inability to decide on a set of standards for anything and stick with it, some people clinging on to power for too long, and so on.

And that's not counting the fact that most of the USSF board is made of people with little to no history in the sport. One of the board members is loving Donna Shalala, the former Clinton admin official. She was caught sleeping during an actual meeting a couple of weeks ago where one of the minor league was making a presentation for how it wanted to operate next year.

I mean, we have people on USSF board who can't even be bothered to stay awake when they are conducting actual business.

Crazy Ted fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Oct 11, 2017

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 04:36

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

XyrlocShammypants posted:

MLS today is not MLS of 2002 ok and that's part of the problem. Playing on dirt pitches and not being seen on TV probably bred character in players back then.

That wasn't the direct point I was trying to make. I was just saying that the existence of the league itself didn't make the players pool worse. You could definitely say that the way the league is run now doesn't help.

quote:

This league has increasingly become pretend and make believe. It's NOT a good league. Even the best venues are just OK and that includes DC's very mediocre new stadium with small capacity.

I can't remember: isn't one of Garber's unofficial official positions that new stadiums need to be artificially small in capacity to create the fake image that there's a lot of demand for ticket sales?

Shrapnig posted:

MLS should be a 12-16 team league at most.

Nah. It just needs to let teams build the way they want to, instead of having to run every decision through Central Planning to see if it complies with Roster Rule 314.5.3.6

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 04:49

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Shrapnig posted:

10000 people is still a pretty good number for the caliber of play MLS produces.

How much of that is down to the fact that the league just about charges Premier League prices for tickets? Yeah maybe it's fun but I'm not dropping $40+ to sit in the lower tier to see the New York Red Bulls unless I really do have some extra cash to burn.

poo poo I got tickets to sit in the lower deck of Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox for about the same price a few years ago.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 04:55

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Moktaro posted:

As for player development, the real problem is with helping the kids develop proper ball skills. But yeah, the Adu/Altidore/etc generation sure let us down, didn't they.

It sure didn't help Adu that his first manager was - as it turned out - an absolute loving nutcase.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 05:03

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

AsInHowe posted:

What about Sunil Gulati getting so many large television contracts for FIFA, it's like no one even cares about that today

He's been able to get large TV contracts in part because FIFA has insisted that packages for international football in the United States include the airing of Major League Soccer games, and bidding for World Cup rights isn't really something that the networks do with the USSF as an intermediary IIRC

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 05:09

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Dirk Pitt posted:

Is 18-22 really the most important development years? This seems like an American mindset problem.

Well those are the years in which the body and the brain fill out and finally reach full adult-level physical maturity.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 20:19

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

XyrlocShammypants posted:

So no Kaka and no Pirlo in MLS next year. Looking pretty thin on anyone worth getting a jersey for. Not many aging thirty something players left to dominate mls backlines nowadays

Did you forget that David Villa exists?

# ¿ Oct 12, 2017 00:32

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

So there's late-night scuttlebutt from Brian Strauss and others that 2-4 of the MLS teams that have full reserve teams in the USL might not bring them back for next year. Suspects floated about are Orlando, Philly, NYRB, and Seattle.

Apparently it's part the MLS organizations going "Hey it turns out we have to spend money on these guys and we don't like it" and part the USL going "Yeah so we want to be D2 so you guys with your hundreds of people who show up to games are actually bad for us now".

# ¿ Oct 18, 2017 06:00

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

whypick1 posted:

Well I guess that will screw the pooch on Sounders 2 planned move to Tacoma/rebrand.

From what I've read, this scenario would have Sounders 2 start back up when the small soccer stadium is ready in Tacoma.

The Bethlehem situation is all on the Philadelphia front office, as apparently they didn't hire local people run to run sales for Bethlehem Steel and it resulted in ticket sales low enough that about 75% of butts in seats were from freebies.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2017 07:57

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Dallan Invictus posted:

Honestly, the number of II team players that will actually ever be useful to the first team could just be loaned out to USL or CPL teams in the first place now that more of them exist than before, and the rest should be sold/cut loose and competing for permanent spots on those teams rather than being warm bodies on a B team that doesn't give a poo poo if it wins and draws like a quarter the crowds of the rest of the league. I used to be in favour of TFC/MTL/VAN having B teams in USL-and-then-CPL (or some other Canadian league) but they haven't usually proven to be worth the added trouble for the MLS team (compared to loan preference-type affiliate deals like Montreal-Ottawa) and they annoy the independent USL/CPL teams and their fans so whatever I'm not going to mourn their loss.

Maybe so, but what's dumb about this is that MLS had a reserve league, decided it wasn't good enough because they wanted backup players playing in games that are supposed to matter, and as a result they struck up the deal with the USL. Now, in just a few years we appear to be reverting back to a direct affiliation type of situation, which was what was going on before MLS even had a reserve league.

And there's more to a reserve unit than just having a few guys become regulars on the senior team. It's so backups can get enough playing time to stay sharp in case they're called upon in an MLS game, or to have an extra lineup's worth of players in case the senior team is hit with a big injury crisis.

Minnesota United had a few games this year where they couldn't even put seven guys on the subs bench. Having something resembling a reserve team would have come in handy.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2017 21:15

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Dallan Invictus posted:

Isn't that their plan though? And that'd be a better place for them really.

And that's another issue: USL was D3 when the affiliation scheme started. Now that the USL would rather put its best teams in D2 and didn't even want to wait until setting up a two-tiered structure to go for D2, we're playing the reserve/affiliation game once again.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2017 03:47

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Shrapnig posted:

And yet they're still a better route to developing into a professional soccer player than the NCAA.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not even a full-scholarship sport in the NCAA, which is why players can transfer without having to sit out a year, right?

# ¿ Oct 20, 2017 01:33

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Feels Villeneuve posted:

Perhaps promising teams with large fanbases would do better in USL if there were some sort of big incentive for finishing top. Not sure what that incentive could be though.

They have the talent to be top of the USL. It's just that they have a manager who literally cannot convince himself to stick to a lineup or formation for more than one game. Imagine Chris Leitch, but if he was even more crazy.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2017 07:29

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

B.B. Rodriguez posted:

This is dumb and entirely a PR move and Public Sympathy grab by Rocco. SUM/MLS were offering $5m for the Cosmos IP after the club was already defunct and shutdown. The non-compete clause is boiler-plate standard for IP acquisition in every industry. This is bullshit and no one in the courtroom will be swayed by this. This was done so more people would get on the MLS conspiracy bandwagon on Twitter and the internet.

It's still kind of a dumb thing, and I thought Non-Compete clauses are legally unenforceable in New York anyway.

If the Cosmos really did shut down last winter there was going to be no demand for the name, and whoever they gave money to wouldn't have used it for anything other than to line their own pockets.

trem_two posted:

NASL filed a new anti-trust suit against USSF yesterday, the claim is that MLS tried to acquire the Cosmos in order to shut down the club.

https://twitter.com/KristianRDyer/status/922691094869106688

IIRC this isn't actually a new lawsuit, but something from the current lawsuit that was leaked out from behind one of the points of a Gag Order specifically made with details like this potential transaction in mind.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 20:34

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

So it looks like Bexar County possibly wants to investigate MLS over the Columbus shenanigans, because apparently the league told San Antonio and the county that if Toyota Field was purchased and refurbished by the local government, then San Antonio would have the fast track to being the third MLS team in Texas.

Of course, this now conflicts with the fact that the league was secretly working with Anthony Precourt with regards to his desire to move Columbus Crew to Austin.

This on top of the fact that the SS&E group was apparently misled about Precourt's moves when they bought the San Antonio Scorpions, folded the team, and started San Antonio FC in the USL.

Crazy Ted fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Oct 30, 2017

# ¿ Oct 30, 2017 18:48

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Hungryjack posted:

This whole thing stinks. And the fact that MLS knew all about it and didn't care should offend all of us.

I have a feeling this will end in either a large lawsuit or cut-price entry into the league for Spurs Sports & Entertainment.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2017 19:31

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

You really have to admire how stupid this is. MLS headquarters gets the chance to go into business with one of the most well-run sports organizations maybe anywhere on Earth, and Don Garber decides, "Hey, lets gently caress them over."

# ¿ Oct 30, 2017 20:32

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

all-Rush mixtape posted:

If MLS thinks California can support four teams, they must think Texas could support four teams (theoretically).

Texas has never supported four teams in one league in any pro sport. There's two in Major League Baseball, two in the NFL, and three in the NBA. And you could argue that Dallas only has an NHL team because Norm Green moved the North Stars there at the behest of his wife after a Sexual Harassment/Assault lawsuit.

If Don Garber thinks Major League Soccer can do Texas better than all four of the long-established North American sporting leagues, then good luck with that.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2017 20:59

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

According to ESPN tonight, Sacramento and NASHVILLE are the favorites for spots 25 and 26, with Cincinnati in the outside looking in.

Burn it down.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2017 04:27

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

binge crotching posted:

I'd be fine with Sacramento, because we need more West Coast teams. Leaving Cinci out is a crime against humanity.

Hence why I underlined Nashville. I can't imagine anyone having an issue with Sacramento getting a spot in MLS from an attendance/support/infrastructure standpoint. You could argue that, with the talent level their level of support affords the team, Sacramento been punching under their weight on the field though.

But Nashville??? And telling FC Cincinnati to gently caress off???

# ¿ Nov 13, 2017 20:48

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Something tangentially related to MLS since they were a marginal expansion candidate back in the day, but this morning the Rochester Rhinos officially went bust.

Yes yes...actually it's "on hiatus"...but the current owners are giving up on the team, which is the second Rhinos ownership to do so in the last three years.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2017 04:04

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Edward Mass posted:

Aww. They were the last non-MLS club to win the U.S. Open Cup.

Here's the insane thing: apparently part of the reason for the attendance drop is that local youth coaches were openly telling their players to boycott the Rhinos because the Rhinos had the utter gall to field youth teams and thus "steal" players from the non-affiliated youth soccer clubs.

Apparently one of the Dworkins said the other day that at a local functiong/thinger a local youth coach actually came up to her and said that he hoped the Rhinos failed because they signed a youth player away from him in like 1998.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2017 05:56

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Good lord: https://deadspin.com/seattle-sounders-fans-are-hopping-mad-at-beer-1820945875

I'd put a quote in here but I'd just end up quoting the whole thing.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2017 20:18

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

Sunil officially OUT - will not run for another term as USSF president. Now the fun part: apparently he and the Don are going to buddy up to support the candidacy of one of the SUM officials.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2017 23:54

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 13:42

Crazy Ted: Jul 29, 2003

TwoStepBoog posted:

Hope Solo is running for USSF president
https://twitter.com/grantwahl/status/938978602196103169

LOL is about the only thought I can muster about this.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2017 07:30

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Ray Parlour > MLS 2017: I'm gonna git you, soccer

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